Presonus Quantum ES 2 Review

Pronus was kind enough to send me this Review unit and allow me to keep it for Quite a while so I could do this video When you purchas the es2 you of course Get the device you get a 1.5 M USBC to USBC cable and documentation the Suggested retail price is $229.99 when it comes to the build Quality the es2 is stunning it's all Metal body weighs in 1.5 lbs it has Vibrant lights with varied colors smooth Knob with minimal wobble and the perfect Amount of resistance the buttons are Firm and accurate on the specs front This is a twoin two out USBC audio Interface with a frequency response of 20 HZ to 20 khz it's 24bit with a sample Rate of 192 khz it provides a whopping 7 5 DB of Clean Gain with a listed Ein of minus 129 DBU aeed that means we're getting up There in the roadter Pro 2 territory the Headphone dynamic range is 111 DB aeed Let's talk about the layout of the Device on the front you have a/ qu in Instrument Jack and a/4 in headphone Jack while on the top you have the 48 Volts phantom power button the auto gain Button channel one and channel two Button a mute button for the main output A main button a headphone button and the Volume knob plus of course you have the Colorful LED displays on the back you Have the Kensington lock a power button

Midi in and out an ox USBC port to power This from a wall plug a USBC port to Connect to your device 1/4in main output Put one and two and then Mike line input Combo Jacks 1 and two first and foremost The quantum es2 has zero trouble pushing These high impedance cost headphones I Wanted to pair this device with the road Nt1 just because the low Ein and then The low self noise on the Nt1 pair together perfectly but can this Drive the sh SM 7B is a 75db is it clean Or is it not I'm back on the sh Sm7b and this es2 drives the sh S sm7b Without any issue whatsoever I'm able to Crank the gain Up when I stay perfectly quiet the gain Meter on OBS drops well below what would Even register when you get past 2 and 3:00 there doesn't appear to be any gain Stepping ISS issue like you get with a Lot of other audio interfaces this Device does have software that comes With it and it is a universal control App so let's run through that briefly I Have to record that in a different Manner so the audio may sound a bit Different but that is just because I'm On a different computer doing the screen Grab for that when you open the Universal control app you're greeted by This screen so here you'll see you'll Have a remote access you can turn that On or off I have not downloaded the app

On my Android it is available up here in The hamburger menu there's some settings But there's also some sensitive Information that I don't want on the Screen so I'm not going to click in There you'll notice that you have this Remote access and then you can mute Remotely and then you're able to select The device that you're on Here and since I'm plugged into this Computer it says local devices And once you plugged in and set up You'll get the actual image of the Device with some important information Sample rate of course you can change and Then block size which is more to do with The latency you have your firmware Version and other information so if we Just click on here now we have launched The little lightweight software that we Can use you'll see up here we have the High pass filter we could toggle on 48 Volts phanom power I'm not going to do It on the channel I'm on because it's a Dynamic microphone and it will come on On the device so anything I'm doing in Here that would affect the device so if I mess with the game it'll do it on the Fill knob on the unit now the mute and Solo I'll reiterate this later in the Video but the mute button doesn't Function in the manner that you would Hope you would hope it would be able to Mute the input but it does not this

Would be muting to speakers out or to Headphones out on this side you have Your main output and your phones you can Adjust those dials say the device is Out Of Reach and you just wanted to set Stuff you could do it through this Universal control app which I find to be Really cool especially when you see it On the unit changing the levels of the Volume for headphones or for input one Or two Etc over here you have a dim Button which just reduces some of the Volume does not mute it will re reduce The volume a little bit and then down Here you have the mute for their Headphones down here you have this Little button where it's mono or stereo Output so you could toggle that on and Off and these buttons down here toggle So I could link the inputs one and two But it it's really lightweight but still Very cool nonetheless and I'll get into Later in the video about what settings Are saved when you make alterations and Use the unit in Standalone mode and then On here say you get certain settings for Certain microphones or what have you you Could come up here to Scenes and you can just add a scene so We'll just put in test and then we'll Click okay and then we could save test Or load it or delete it or add other Ones so it could come in handy if you're Switching be between microphones and

Such with your applications and you just Want to quickly get back to the settings You had stored it's time for my pros and Cons first and foremost on the pros the Preamps are Stellar the provided 75 DB Of gain is plenty enough to drive any Microphone that I can think of also the Auto gain functionality is extremely Simpl IC and probably implemented better Than in most devices that I've used with That functionality another Pro is the Extremely low latency offered by the Unit but it comes at a cost and I'll get To that in the Cons another Pro you can bypass the Preamps when you use line level devices Input into the unit another Pro is loop Back the quantum es2 allows you to take Audio from your operating system or Software application and send it to Another application for the purpose of Recording or live streaming another Pro Is another feature in the universal Control app which allows you to set up Quantum in one place and then control it From another part of the studio Studio Via the computer and it makes that Change on the unit yet another Pro some Of the changes you make in the universal Control app are saved by the quantum es2 System to be used in Standalone mode Those features include Channel level pan Position stereo link solo mute status Channel gain 48 volts phantom power or

High pass filter status plus Main and Headphone output levels another Pro is Compatibility you can use the quantum Es2 with any recording software that is Compatible with Core Audio Wdm or asio another Pro is you could Plug the quantum es2 into your cell Phone or tablet you just have to make Sure you have sufficient power through The auxiliary power port another Pro Pronus is kind of enough to include 6 Months of Studio 1 plus imagine my Surprise when I open the manual and There's a recipe for red fish kuon That's kind of Next Level I've gushed Over the device enough one of the Nitpicks I have for the device is There's no way to truly mute the inputs I was hoping they' do that with the Universal control app but that just Mutes the main output or mutes to the Headphones so everything is being picked Up by the doll or the live stream the Elephant in the room when it comes to Cons is the inability to Hardware direct Monitor on the unit now there's a Workaround for this you can do it Through software but I found it a bit Puzzling and I think a lot of other People will too who are just used to Traditional audio interfaces that allow You to direct monitor I wouldn't call This next one a con I would call call it A little bit of a warning just make sure

You have the proper power requirements Met so when I plugged into one of my PCS It only has usba a ports that just Weren't able to power the device bus Powered but in the other PC I have USBC Ports and they Supply the sufficient Amount of power there's a little USB Icon on the device it'll go red when It's not getting sufficient bus power I'll put a link link to the wall plug They recommend when you want to use the Auxiliary power and my only other Nitpick would be that loop back is only Available on desktop overall the quantum Es2 is a stellar audio interface that Blows away every other interface I've Reviewed in this particular category so This $230 and under category in this type of Format you can use this interface for a Variety of function But I think it really excels when it Comes to music as always thank you